The boyfriend and I just got back from seeing “Thor.” I left for the theater knowing nothing about the superhero, and nothing about the story, except for the small amount of mythology I still had in my head from childhood. I arrived home, not only a fan of Thor, but of Chris Hemsworth, who stars as the titular character.
This was an excellent choice to follow Iron Man 2, and a great title to begin the summer. I think the general public probably felt a lot like I did about the comic book character, no strong feelings one way or another. Which set the stage for the story to be told for the first time.The film itself didn’t have a lot of fanfare around it’s release, and our theater was at least 80% empty. However, the good reviews are speaking for themselves.
With no complicated history, no tangle of franchise films, shows and cartoons; Thor is a fresh face in the crowd of super-hero prequels, squeals, and remakes. Easy on the eyes stars with minimal dialog, well choreographed action and impeccable art direction make this a fun film to watch. Every scene is beautiful, every fight is a dance.
In a perfect world, the glaring plot hole around what makes the bad guy go bad would be easily patched up with one or two other scenes thrown in for continuity. But that might take away from Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman being breathtakingly attractive at each other. Given the choice, I take the latter.
If you’re an action fan, this is a nice snack to tide you over for what summer will hopefully unfold (“Green Lantern,” “Captain America,” “Pirates of the Caribbean”). It’s not going to be the best film of the summer, so far it’s not even the best film of the year (see “Rango”), but in the context of the S.H.E.I.L.D. series, it’s well placed and in terms of the season, it’s in an excellent position. For the visuals alone, it was well worth the thirteen bucks I spent on it, and that’s really what matters.